1816.] 



AND HOB TIC UL Tunis T. 



191 



educational. It was said in an English horticul- 

 tural periodical that some of the English nursery- 

 men intended to come over with their goods and 

 astonish the Yankees. It is astonishing that 

 their plants have arrived in such good condition, 

 but it seems just likely that the astonishment 

 will be mutual, and do good all round. It was 

 pleasant to meet on the grounds so many repre- 

 sentatives of foreign firms : Benary, of Errfurt ; 

 Court, of the celebrated firm of the Veitchei ; 

 Waterer, the rhododendron man ; and Williams, 

 famous for the introduction of new tropical 

 plants, were on the grounds. Waterer, with his 

 rhododendrons, was first on here. They are not 

 displayed yet, but if superior to those of the 

 American firm of Parsons & Son, of Flushing, 

 they will be very fine indeed. The leading 

 exhibitors, who have in a measure completed 

 their plantations, are S. B. Parsons & Sons, R. B. 

 Parsons & Co., of New York; Asher Hance & 

 Sons, of Bed Bank, N. J.; Hoopes Bros. & 

 Thomas, of West Chester; Veitch & Sons, of 

 Chelsea, England ; and in azaleas, Waterer, of 

 London; Robert Buist, of Philadelphia; Miller 

 & Hayes, of Mount Airy ; Verdier, of Paris ; and 

 Ch. Pohl, of Austria. The last has a collection 

 that will astonish Americans by its novelty. It 

 Is a collection of gooseberries and currants 

 grafted on the stem of our wild Missouri cur- 

 rant, which is a strong sort, growing four or five 

 feet high. These are already in front of Horti- 

 cultural Hall, in flower, and when the red fruit 

 matures they must make very striking objects. 



The Japanese have a small collection of dwarf 

 evergreens in front of their building. The 

 kinds, however, have for the most part been 

 already introduced by our enterprising nursery- 

 men, and are found in their collections. It 

 shows that the celebrated skill of the Japanese 

 in dwarfing evergreens is fully matched by our 

 own horticulturists. They simply select the 

 dwarf forms — the Tom Thumbs of the vegetable 

 kingdom — and propagate from them. The train- 

 ed fruit trees of some of the European exhibitors 

 are greater monuments of skill. 



Horticultural Hall is yet but partly filled. 

 Plants cannot travel long distances in cold 

 weather, and the more tender kinds must yet 

 wait a while. It is wonderful that so much is 

 already here. Mr. B. S. Williams, of Holloway, 

 near London, has been very successful in bring- 

 ing over a nice lot of rare hot-house plants. 

 These are in the northeast conservatory. The 

 plants are, of course, small in comparison with 



what our home florists can contribute, but it is a 

 remarkable collection for so great a distance. 

 The several varieties of Bornean pitcher planta 

 attract much attention from the curious visitor. 

 In this house there is a small but very choice 

 collection of those tropical curiosities, known sm 

 orchids or air plants. Many more are expected 

 later in the season, when the weather is safer for 

 their transportation. These few are from Mr. 

 Sturtevant, of Bordentown, N. J. Among these 

 flowers are mimic representatives of the ornitho- 

 logical and entomological worlds. S. B. Parsoni 

 & Sons, of Flushing, N. Y., have a collection of 

 ferns in this division, which is pronounced ex- 

 ceedingly choice by those skilled in pteridology. 

 The centre of the house is occupied by Austral- 

 ian tree ferns, contributed by Miller & Sievers, of 

 San Francisco. In the northwest house w© 

 found Mr. Taplin, the well-known superintend- 

 ent of Geo. Such's fine collection at Amboy, 

 N. J., with what is so far the most valuable 

 collection of tropical plants in the Exhibition. 

 There is a plant of the snow}' wax palm, some 

 twelve feet high, of which small specimens are 

 valued at $100 each. Usually, palms have a 

 graceful look, but the devil palm, Daemonorops 

 hystrix, is horrible to look upon. The usually 

 humble fern gives us here a representative with 

 a stem five feet high. This is the way they grow 

 in Australia. There are plenty of sago palms in 

 the hall, but here is one in flower. It looks as if 

 nature had simply placed a crown of oak leavea 

 on the head of the palm. The flowers, how- 

 ever, come to nothing, as among sago palms 

 marriage is necessary to perfect happiness. A 

 new kind of sago palm is in Mr. Such's collec- 

 tion, called Cycas circinalis. The sago is mad© 

 from rotting the stems — expensive sago at the 

 figures at which these plants are held. The 

 whole collection of palms is perhaps one of the 

 most valuable ever seen at any great exposition, 

 and surprises those of our English friends who 

 fancied Americans far behind in these tasteful 

 luxuries. The flamingo plant drew numbers 

 within its brilliant circles. It is somewhat allied 

 to our well-known calla lily, but few but botan- 

 ists would suspect the relationship. There are 

 about fifty expanded flowers on it. The florist* 

 call it Anthurium Scherzerianum. Not fit to 

 associate with respectable vegetation, and there- 

 fore, confined in a small glass case, is a collection 

 of those savage little things known as insectivo- 

 rous plants. They have cut loose from the sim- 

 ple habits of their forefathers, Mr. Darwin tells 



